Gun cooling apparatus



13, 1945.. J. R. STEPHENSON 2,388,807

GUN COOLING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 13, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 13, 1945. J. R. STEPHENSON GUN COOLING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 13, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Patented Nov. 13, 1945 GUN "COOLING APPARATUS James ,R. Stephenson, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors. Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, .ae a corporation of Delaware Application February 13, 1943, :Serial No. 475,706

.4 Claims.

This invention relates to gun cooling apparatus and more particularly :to apparatus for cooling the barrel of a rapid firing gun such as a Browning machine gun.

portion of the barrel. .En'd caps 18 and 21D operate withithe ends of the cylindrical portion 16 and the barrel mechanism so as to form a'watertight chamber 22 surrounding the barrel.

It is an object of this invention to simplify 5 Since the barrel of amachine gun becomes-very the design of the cooling jacket for a machine hot during operation of the gun the water suplgllnplied to the chamber 22 is inclined to vaporize Another object of this invention is to eliminate u ess a rge e u qu y Water 0011- t'he need for any moving :parts in the coolin tinuously circulated through the chamber 22. jac et. Inasmuch as the water supply is often yeryxlim- Still another object of this invention is to reited, provision must be made for allowing the duce the cost and the weight of the cooling Vapor to e c pe Without e 105$ of y p J'acket. able amount of water irrespective of whether the Further objects and advantages of the present gun is pointed upwardly, downwardly, or horizoninvention will be apparent from the following del5 tally. In order to provide for circulation of the scription, reference being had to the accompanywater through the chamber and in order to pro ing drawings, wherein a preferred form of the vide for the escape ofvapor from the-chamber I present invention is clearly shown. have provided a simple venting apparatus in the In the w s: form of an adapter which includes a casting 32 Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a machine secured to the inner wall of the cylinder f8, a gun provided with a cooling jacket constructed U-shaped tube 24 having its one end 26 open to in accordance with my invention; the interior of the chamber 22 and having its .2isavertica'l sectional view on an enlarged other end 28 communicating with the outlet Scale; chamber 30 formed in the casting 32 and a Fig. 3 is a fragmentaryelevationalview of the straight tube 34 which surrounds the one leg of vent pip w h p s r n way; the U-shaped tube '24 and has its one end 36 4 s w h r la v p i Of the v communicating with the interior of the champparatus with respect to the water in the ber 22 at the forward end of the barrel and has water jacket when the i placed to be fired its other end 3-8 communicating with the outlet p y; chamber 30 and outlet opening 3| provided in Fig. 5 shows the water level while firing on the the casting 32. level; The ends of the tube 24 are brazed or other- 6 shows the water level while firing d W wise secured to the casting 32 so as to provide w rd y; nd water-tight joints therewith. Likewise the tube Fig. '7 is a fragmen a y Sectional View taken '34 has its one end brazed or otherwise secured on line 1-1 of Fig. '2. t th casting 32 whereby the casting 32 together The water used for cooling the barrel of a mat th t b 24 nd 34 form a unitary assemchine gun is frequently Obtained from Swamps bly which may be secured to the inner wall of and the like and for that reason often contains th y1inder It i any suitable manner such as by much foreign matter which would interfere with 40 brazing any a mat a y p r t d valve mechanism In order to facilitate slipping the cooling jacket placed in the water circuit. In the arrangement t th b l of th gun, I have provided a disclosed herein the usual valves located between Sheet metal guide member 3'! which is brazed the and the Outlet Of the Cooling jacket have or otherwise secured to the end cap 2[] Referbeen eliminatedonce numeral 40 designates the usual packing Referring HOW tOFig- 1 in Which I have shown assembly which allows the barrel of the gun to a preferred o ent of my invention referrecoil during operation. The construction of the ence numeral I 0 designates astandard Browning assembly 40 has not been changed and corren h n n. fe n num r l 1 generally sponds to the structure used prior to my inven- Ilesignates a in jac et Which ro nds the tion and therefore needs no further description. aarrel M of the gun. In Fig. 2 I have shown The end caps I8 and 20 may be brazed or other- Jhe relationship f e cooling jacket 12 to the wise secured to the cylindrical shell [6. By virtue Jerrel As Shown therein e cooling jacket of applicants simple trouble-free construction :omprises a main cylindrical portion I6 which the need for replacing any of the parts of the lurrounds the barrel I4 throughout the major cooling jacket has been substantially eliminated with the result that it is more practical to replace the entire cooling jacket in the event of damage kinds of supply parts and making the individual parts removable from the assembly.

The forward end of the tube 34 may be brazed or otherwise secured to the end cap 20 at 50 in order to more rigidly support the front end of the venting apparatus.

Reference numeral 42 des gnates a drain plug which may be used for draining the water jacket when not in use. Water is supplied to the cooling jacket through the inlet 44 provided with a plug 45 which may be used for closing the inlet 44 whenever desired. The cooling jacket may be supplied with water from. any suitable source.

Thus it is common to provide a pump which supplies a steady stream of water to the cooling jacket. Under certain circumstances the amount of water may be limited, in which case only a small amount of water is supplied to the'jacket and most or all of th s is vaporized and the vapor leaving the jacket through the outlet 30 is either wasted or recondensed and returned to the inlet 44. In cold climates a suitable anti-freeze may be used in the cooling jacket, in which case it would be desirable to recondense the'anti-freeze so as to be able to use it over and over again without any loss. Since the details of the pumping equipment and the condensing equipment form no part of my invention, this equipment has not been shown in the drawings- By virtue of the construction described hereinabove, when the gun is firing upwardly the vapor may escape from the cooling jacket by passin downwardly through the tube 34 and out through the outlet 3 I. In this position of the gun the water will not drain out through the tube 24 since a portion of the tube projects above the water level. When the gun is pointed horizontally the vapor may escape through either or both of the vent tubes as the inlet to each tube is above the required water level as shown in Fig. 5. As shown in Fig. 6, when the gun is pointed downwardly the vapor may escape through the tube 24 but no water will escape since the inlet 26 of the tube 24 is above the water level and the outlet of the straight tube 34 is also above thewater level.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, as may come within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In combination with an automatic firearm having a barrel, a cooling jacket for said barrel extending substantially the full length of said barrel, and means for venting the interior of said jacket comprising a vent opening adjacent one end of said jacket, a first vent tube communicating with said opening and having an inlet adjacent the other end of said jacket, and a substantially U-shaped tube extending substantially the full length of the jacket and having an outlet communicating with said vent opening and having an inlet at the end adjacent said vent opening, One of the arms of said U-shaped tube being disposed within said first vent tube.

2. In combination with an automatic firearm having a barrel, a water jacket surrounding said barrel, a water inlet opening provided in the wall of said jacket, a water and/or vapor outlet opening provided in the wall of said jacket, a fitting disposed within said jacket having a, first threaded opening communicating with said inlet opening and having a second threaded opening communicating with said outlet opening, said fitting including a chamber communicating with said second threaded opening, a U-shaped tube extending substantially the full length of said water jacket and having its one end communicating with said chamber and having its other end communicating with the space between said jacket and said barrel, and a second substantially straight tube having its one end communicating with said chamber and having its other end communicating with the space between said water jacket and said barrel, the inlet of said substantially straight tube and the inlet of said substantially U-shaped tube being disposed adjacent opposite ends of said water jacket.

3. In combination with an automatic firearm having a barrel, a water jacket surrounding said barrel, a casting within said jacket having a first passage for supplying water to said jacket and a second passage for venting said jacket, a substantially U-shaped tube having itsinlet end communicating with the inside of said jacket and having its other end communicating with said second passage, and a substantially straight tube having its inlet end communicating withthe inside of said jacket at a point remote from the inlet end of said U-shaped tubeand having its outlet end communicating with said second passage, both of said tubes being disposed substantially wholly above the upper side of said barrel.

4. In combination-with means forming an elongated tiltable chamber, means for venting the interior of said chamber comprising a vent opening, a first vent tube communicating with said opening and having an inlet adjacent one endof said chamber, and a second Vent tube having an outlet communicating with said vent opening and having an inlet at the other end of said chamber, said second vent tube having a U-shaped bend therein and having one arm of the U disposed Within said first vent tube.

JAMES R. STEPHENSON. 

